Benjamin Watson facing suspension for failed drug test

Newly-acquired tight end Benjamin Watson said Sunday that he faces a four-game suspension as a result of a failed drug test from March.

It appears that for the second straight year, the New England Patriots will be without one of their top weapons in the passing game for the first four games of the regular season. In 2018, it was Julian Edelman who was suspended for a failed drug test. Now in 2019, it looks like Benjamin Watson faces a similar trajectory.

Watson shared news of the pending suspension via his Facebook account on Sunday, stating that he is “very disappointed that I will not be able to play and contribute immediately.”

"“This is not how I would want to enter a new locker room and attempt to earn my role on a new team. However, I respect the regulations that have been collectively bargained to promote fairness on the field of play and accept the discipline associated with my infraction.”"

The 38-year-old tight end wrote that he’s known of the four-game suspension since early May, and that it came up in his meetings with the Saints and Patriots when he spoke to both franchises. Watson indicated in Thursday’s OTA that was open to the media that he only wanted to play for New Orleans or New England if he returned for another year in the NFL.

Though he publicly announced his intention to retire at the end of last season, Watson had a change of heart, and after consulting with his family, decided to return for his 16th year as a professional football player. He was originally drafted by Bill Belichick in 2004 and spent seven years with the Patriots before playing with the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and New Orleans Saints.

Watson claims he failed the March test because of a drug called “Bio Identical Testosterone Cypionate,” a medication that was prescribed to him by doctors to help heal his “body and mind.” At the time he was taking it, Watson considered himself retired, and thus had no concern for needing to pass the test without a blemish.

It was only a month or so later when he began considering a return to the NFL that he realized the drug test could comeback to haunt him, especially after he received a letter in the mail in early May indicating his test came back positive.

Despite the setback, Watson wrote that he remains “excited and thankful to return to New England.” The Patriots presumably had Watson penciled in atop their tight end depth chart to start the season; his suspension perhaps opens the door for another player to seize the starting role, such as Austin Seferian-Jenkins or Matt LaCosse.